Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To hold the attention of or occupy in an agreeable fashion.
- transitive verb To cause to laugh or smile by being funny.
- transitive verb Archaic To delude or deceive.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cause to muse; absorb or engage in meditation; occupy or engage wholly; bewilder; puzzle.
- To keep in expectation, as by flattery, plausible pretenses, and the like; delude; keep in play.
- To fix the attention of agreeably; engage the fancy of; cause to feel cheerful or merry; entertain; divert: as, to
amuse an audience with anecdotes or tricks, or children with toys. - Synonyms Amuse, Divert, Entertain, Beguile, occupy, please, enliven. Amuse may imply merely the prevention of the tedium of idleness or emptiness of mind: as, I can amuse myself by looking out at the window; or it may suggest a stronger interest: as, I was greatly amused by their tricks. Divert is to turn the attention aside, and (in the use considered here) to something light or mirthful. Entertain is to engage and sustain the attention by something of a pleasing and perhaps instructive character, as conversation; hence the general name entertainment for lectures, exhibitions, etc., designed to interest in this way. “Whatever amuses serves to kill time, to lull the faculties and banish reflection; it may be solitary, sedentary, and lifeless: whatever diverts causes mirth and provokes laughter; it will be active, lively, and tumultuous: whatever entertains acts on the senses and awakens the understanding; it must be rational and is mostly social.” Crabb. Beguile is, figuratively, to cheat one out of weariness, of dull time, etc. The word is as often thus applied to the thing as to the person: as, to
beguile a weary hour; to beguile one of his cares. - To muse; meditate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To muse; to mediate.
- transitive verb obsolete To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.
- transitive verb To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions; to divert.
- transitive verb To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing emotions.
- verb To cause
laughter , to befunny . - verb transitive, archaic To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
- verb transitive, archaic To
divert attention , todistract , tobewilder .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make (somebody) laugh
- verb occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'd like a little sorbetto made of brain amuse-bouche, amuse-bouche, he will peel you like a mango
Bohemian Radioactivity Zombaritaville 2009
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I'd like a little sorbetto made of brain amuse-bouche, amuse-bouche, he will peel you like a mango
Archive 2009-07-29 Zombaritaville 2009
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"I suppose you will want to, what you call amuse yourself, to see the beasts at Exeter Change, and the playhouses.
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Carla Hall Lyons who "amuse" - bouched us with her lovingly prepared culinary creations and hilarious quips.
Gayired.com - Gay OnLine Community for Entertainment and Daily News 2009
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The amuse was a goat cheese ball, rolled in parsley and resting on a spoon with tart preserves.
NYC Dining: Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller Brilynn 2009
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The amuse was a goat cheese ball, rolled in parsley and resting on a spoon with tart preserves.
Archive 2009-01-01 Brilynn 2009
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I love the idea of amuse bouche through out the meal...
Le Pamphlet Etienne 2006
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The amuse was a cucumber with an amazing swirl of what I think was minted cream on top.
Chef's 7-Course Tasting Menu at Vermilion Linda 2005
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The amuse was a cucumber with an amazing swirl of what I think was minted cream on top.
Archive 2005-03-01 Linda 2005
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I am not objecting to the amusement; only to cease to educate in order to amuse is to degenerate.
Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood George MacDonald 1864
fbharjo commented on the word amuse
amuses meaning has gone from "to stupify" to "to entertain"
September 8, 2009